Negotiation Workshop

Students who enroll in this offering may count the credits towards the JD experiential learning requirement.

Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: No Exam

*Cross-Registrants: Please note that cross-registrants interested in taking the Workshop must participate in the online application process for the Workshop. The deadline to apply is noon on Friday, October 4, 2019. For more information please visit the course website: http://hnmcp.law.harvard.edu/application-crossreg/.

Most lawyers, irrespective of their specialty, must negotiate. Litigators resolve far more disputes through negotiation than by trials. Business lawyers -- whether putting together a start-up company, arranging venture financing, or preparing an initial public offering -- are called upon to negotiate on behalf of their clients. Public interest lawyers, in-house counsel, government attorneys, criminal lawyers, tort lawyers, and commercial litigators all share the need to be effective negotiators.

This Workshop, by combining theory and practice, aims to improve both the participants’ understanding of negotiation and their effectiveness as negotiators. Drawing on work from a variety of research perspectives, the readings and lectures will provide students with a framework for analyzing negotiations and tools and concepts useful in negotiating more effectively. Participants will spend much of their time in a series of negotiation exercises and simulations, where as negotiators and critical observers, they will become more aware of their own behavior as negotiators and learn to analyze what works, what does not work, and why.

The Workshop is intensive and time-consuming. It meets Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:10 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. In addition, students will need to be present for exercises for portions of one weekend during the term. These sessions are required.

The Workshop will be limited to 168 students who will be divided into seven working groups of 24 each. Plenary sessions of the full class will be devoted to demonstrations, discussion problems, lectures, video and film. Much of the time devoted to exercises and simulations will take place in the smaller working groups, each of which will be led by an experienced instructor and a teaching assistant.

In addition to participating in the daily activities, students will be expected to keep a weekly journal and to produce a number of short, written products throughout the term. This course has no final examination.

During the first week of the Workshop, upperclass and LL.M. students will be given an opportunity to elect to take the Workshop on a credit/fail basis. For cross-registrants, the availability of the credit/fail option is dependent on the policies of their home school.

Note - Early Drop Deadline

The Workshop has an early drop deadline of November 29, 2019. The course may not be dropped after November 29, 2019 without the written permission of the instructor and students who drop after this date will receive a WD on their transcript.